Posted on Leave a comment

Vitamin B12

b12

What is vitamin B12?

Vitamin B12, also known as cobalamin, is an essential water-soluble vitamin. This compound plays an important role in DNA synthesis and the production of new red blood cells. Normally, vitamin B12 is found in animal foods, including meats, fish, poultry, eggs, and dairy. Unfortunately, vitamin B12 deficiency is quite common despite the efforts of governments to include a fortified form in other food elements.

The benefits of vitamin B12

Vitamin B12 provides a diverse collection of benefits for our bodies, including being a crucial piece in the process of producing new red blood cells, reducing the risk of macular degeneration, improving symptoms of depression, and preventing major birth defects. This list is by no means comprehensive, as vitamin B12 is included in a multitude of physiological processes, which is similar to vitamin D. Fortunately, the body is able to store up vitamin B12 inside the liver. Therefore, even after the interruption of this vitamin’s absorption, patients do not present any symptoms until after a period of three years. Obviously, the most devastating effect of vitamin B12 deficiency is birth defects since these are usually irreversible. However, the most common clinical presentation is megaloblastic anemia, which can lead to dire consequences if left untreated.

Conclusion on B12

Providing your body with vitamin B12 supplements could be a great way to prevent all the adverse effects of its deficiency. If you have any questions about the health benefits of this vitamin, feel free to ask in the comment section below.

Posted on Leave a comment

Omega 3, Omega 6 and Omega 9

omega3

Everything You Need To Know About The Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids (PUFAs).

What are PUFAs

Unfortunately, lipids have gathered a bad reputation over the past few years, which is mainly due to their association with coronary artery disease, diabetes, and other debilitating ailments. However, not all fats are created equal!

In fact, all fatty acids are essential for the body, but with moderate consumption. In this article, we will discuss some of the fatty acids that may improve your health status and decrease your risk of several diseases. Polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) are a group of lipids that have many double bonds in their chemical structures. As a result, these compounds will act as an antioxidant, drastically improving your cardiovascular health, metabolism, and cognitive functions.

The types of PUFAs

Omega 3

Omega-3 is a PUFAs that can lower blood pressure, reduce the risk of atherosclerosis and cardiac arrhythmias, and balance the levels of triglycerides.

Foods that contain omega 3:

    • Salmon
    • Cod liver oil
    • Mackerel
    • Herring
    • Oysters
    • Sardines

Omega 6

Omega-6 lowers LDL levels and increases HDL levels, which decrease your risk of coronary artery disease, ischemic stroke, and peripheral artery disease.

Foods that contain omega 6:

    • Walnuts
    • Safflower oil
    • Tofu
    • Hemp seeds
    • Sunflower seeds
    • Peanut butter

Omega 9

Omega-9 carries the same health benefits as the aforementioned compounds.

Foods that contain omega 9:

    • Olive oil
    • Cashew nut oil
    • Almond oil
    • Avocado oil
    • Peanut oil
    • Almonds

Takeaway message

PUFAs are crucial for a healthy organism and should be integrated into everyone’s diet. These molecules can be found in fish oil, meat, and some nuts and needs. In a way, PUFAs act as an antidote to the destructive effects of cholesterol and saturated fatty acids. If you have any questions about this PUFAs, omega-3,6,9, or any other type of lipid, feel free to ask in the comment section below. We would be thrilled to answer them!

Posted on Leave a comment

Prebiotics: everything you need to know

prebiotics

Prebiotics are taking a bigger share of the supplementation market every year. They are crucial for a healthy gastrointestinal system and an overall healthy organism.

While prebiotics can be found in foods, such as legumes, oats, bananas, and berries, people often don’t get sufficient amounts of these substances into their system.

Moreover, most people get confused when talking about prebiotics; so, to simplify the matter, you should think of prebiotics as substances (e.g. fiber) that cannot get digested by the human GI system but serve as food for the good bacteria in your gut.

What’s the difference between probiotics and prebiotics

Understandably, people tend to confuse between probiotics and prebiotics.

After all, the difference is one single letter. However, and as we explained in our probiotics article, these are live bacteria that help restore the balance of your gut flora, whereas prebiotics is the food to that bacteria.

Conclusion

Both probiotics and prebiotics are important for a healthy gastrointestinal system, and we should all be modifying our diet to include food elements that contain these compounds.

Nevertheless, if you don’t think you’re getting enough probiotics or prebiotics through your diet, there is always the option of taking dietary supplements, which is a reasonable solution to avoid deficiencies and promote your health.

If you have tried prebiotic supplements before, feel free to let us know about the results you witnessed

 

Posted on Leave a comment

Probiotics: everything you need to know

probiotics

Probiotics stem from the Greek word “pro”, meaning to promote, and “biotic”, meaning life. As for the medical definition of this word, scientists describe probiotics as microorganisms that improve the health of the host (you and I) when given in adequate dosage.

Because of this definition, people often find it difficult to believe that consuming live bacteria can improve their health. It is after all the opposite reason you take antibiotics, which are made to treat you.

Moreover, we try to keep a high level of hygiene to clear up all the microorganisms that cause disease. Therefore, why would you willingly consume these microbes?

The answer to this question is complex and involves a deep understanding of the gut microbiota. However, let’s take a different approach to answer this question; we’ll discuss the major benefits of probiotics to comprehend why it’s a good idea to supplement your body with these microorganisms.

The health benefits of probiotics

Gastrointestinal health?

  • When you take dietary probiotics, you’ll restore the balance between the good and bad bacteria inside your gut. This process leads to the following benefits:
    • Improved gastrointestinal motility
    • Enhanced digestion
    • Detoxification of the intestines from chemicals and toxins
    • Decreased risk of digestive infections caused by E.coli, Salmonella, Shigella, and Campylobacter
    • Decreased risk of digestive diseases, such as irritable bowel syndrome, ulcerative colitis, and Crohn’s disease

General health

The effect of a healthy microbiota is believed to influence all organ systems of the body, which has a direct impact on the host’s health status. While the mechanism is not fully understood, scientists theorize it’s the cause of boosting the immune system while keeping it at check.

After all, you don’t want to boost the immune system too much since it may be counterintuitive and cause autoimmune diseases (e.g. lupus erythematosus disease, rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis).

Like I said earlier, finding the right balance will have tremendous beneficial effects on your health, which is exactly what probiotics provide

Conclusion on probiotics

Probiotics are a great tool to improve your overall health; moreover, we are seeing new exciting data that supports the benefits of a healthy gastrointestinal flora on the entire body.

 

Posted on Leave a comment

Vitamin D – An Essential Compound To Our Health

Vitamin D An Essential

What is vitamin D?

Vitamin D is a crucial compound that mediates several physiological functions in the body. This vitamin is unique since it functions more like a hormone, and every cell has its receptor.

The process of producing vitamin D in the body is absolutely fascinating and involves multi-step physiology that starts at the level of the skin

Here’s a summary about this process:

How vitamin D is produced?

Step one 

    • when the body synthesizes cholesterol, it will get converted at the skin level by a chemical reaction that involves sunlight exposure (i.e. photons).

Step two 

    • once the cholesterol is transformed into an active form of vitamin D, the liver will produce a special enzyme that catalyzes a second metabolic reaction.

Step three 

    • finally, the kidneys release an enzyme to produce the active form of vitamin D, which is known as 1,25-dihydroxycholecalciferol.

The active form of the vitamin provides several benefits to the body, including:

    • Improves bone mineral density and decreases the risk of osteoporosis
    • Facilitates hormonal regulation in both males and females
    • Helps manage blood sugar levels
    • Boosts the immune system
    • Reduces oxidative stress
    • Improves cardiovascular health
    • Sharpens memory and improves cognitive functions

 

Takeaway message

As you can see, vitamin D affects a multitude of organs and its deficiency can lead to dire consequences. Unfortunately, most people don’t get enough sunlight exposure, hence the low levels of vitamin D in their bloodstream. This is especially true for individuals living in cloudy areas, such as Europe and North America.

To counter this issue, experts recommend taking vitamin D dietary supplements to meet your daily needs.